> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.cascadepbs.org/llms.txt
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# The Ghost Tree: Bringing Back the American Chestnut
- URL: https://www.cascadepbs.org/show/human-footprint/extras/the-ghost-tree-bringing-back-the-american-chestnut-mzwjuw/
- Published: 2025-07-29T18:30:51.000Z
- Updated: 2025-08-20T18:48:52.000Z
- Description: Sara Fitzsimmons fights to resurrect a tree that once ruled the eastern U.S. forests.
- Author: Cascade PBS Staff
- Tags: Human Footprint, #ZZZ_Show_920c28e7-cc8d-4bd4-a6a1-1d54d80cf6c8, #geo-us, #v1.7, #ZZZ_Extra_e8aedcb9-fd16-4b7d-9536-e8e2c23fccab, #extra

Billions of American chestnut trees once shaped life in Appalachia, but a foreign fungus erased them in a matter of decades. Today, only sickly sprouts remain — ghosts of a vanished ecosystem. Sara Fern Fitzsimmons and The American Chestnut Foundation are racing to breed resistance and restore the tree's ecological role. It’s slow, painstaking work — but it may hold the key to revival.